Lawyers Infesting Government: The New 'Organized Crime Racket"

September 14, 2006, in Lawyer Kickers pro bono, we posted 'Lawyers Wield Their Extortion (Threat of Lawsuits), Again'.

Fourteen months later an esteemed member of the nation's journalist community has finally joined in the alarm. Here are some excerpts of what George Will wrote:

Since 1965, the firm has won, often by tactics indistinguishable from extortion, $45 billion from corporations — more than $1 billion a year for plaintiffs claiming to have been cheated as investors. ... It has been indicted as a "racketeering enterprise" that obstructed justice and committed perjury, bribery and fraud while collecting about $250 million in fees from about 250 cases using paid plaintiffs, which is illegal. [emphasis added]

Readers should note that racketeering enterprise laws were developed to quash 'organized crime syndicates' that is, traditional organized crime. George Will's column is worth reading in full and it is great to have someone from mainstream journalism extol the danger of lawyers' infestation of our government: EARLY WARNING: Colonization of the Senate.

We must wait six years for every chance to vote for a non-lawyer senator. Should we not be more frightened that lawyers occupy 100% of the Judiciary, infest 53% of the Senate and often control the Whitehouse than we were when the Mafia controlled a few cities? According to George Will (in his same column):

Lerach was a Lincoln Bedroom guest in President Bill Clinton's White House. Shortly after Lerach attended a White House dinner, Clinton vetoed legislation that would have restricted class-action lawsuits. Lerach gave $100,000 to Clinton's presidential library. ... Until Lerach pleaded guilty, he was a fundraiser for Edwards, for whom he collected $64,000 from lawyers in the firm he founded after he had a falling-out with Weiss.

Time grows short, fellow citizens.